Fragrance bottles are works of art, beauty to behold. But where to hold them? The Facticerie in Hackensack, NJ includes more than 3,500 fragrance factices—a world record, according to Guinness. To celebrate the second anniversary of its entry into the record books, the American Society of Perfumers took a tour of the unique space, hosted by its Founder Sudhir Gupta.

In 1992, Gupta emigrated to the US from India. Despite his engineering degree, his first job was a low-paying, entry-level cleaning position in a perfume shop on Canal Street in NYC. He saw his first factice –an over-sized Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps perfume display bottle with intricately intertwined frosted glass doves atop it. Awestruck, he saved his weekly paycheck of $200 and was finally was able to purchase the factice for $2,000. For more than 30 years, Gupta continued buying factices, amassing the largest collection in the world.

In between finding rare fragrance bottles, Gupta founded Eau de Luxe, a wholesale fragrance company specializing in hard-to-find fragrances. Eau de Luxe made the Inc. 5000 list every year from 2014 to 2018. Despite all his success, for Gupta, it all comes back to the factices.

“Everything I’ve achieved has evolved from my passion for factices,” said Gupta.

The Factice Collection boasts an extraordinary number of these works of art dating back to the 19^th Century.  Each factice is a precious work of art that takes us on its own journey, and in a magically intimate way, reveals its own secrets.

According to ASP President Roger Howell, the Night at The Facticerie underscores ASP’s mission to “promote, educate and support” the fragrance industry.

The next ASP event is May 7 at Van Vleck Gardens, Montclair, NJ. Details to follow!